It took 270 minutes for Lahore to drown

* 86mm of rain paralyses routine life
* Major roads submerged, vehicles break down in rainwater
* Shahbaz Sharif hits the road to rescue flood-affected people
* WASA MD says authority is helpless in localities with no sewerage system

By Nauman Tasleem

LAHORE: A four-and-a-half-hour long spell of rain on the weekend paralysed routine life, as water accumulated on main roads and crossings, causing breakdown of a number of vehicles in various localities of the city.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department had predicted heavy monsoon rainfall from July to September, but the departments concerned paid no heed to the warning and did not make arrangements to deal with the predicted calamity. The chief meteorologist had warned that rainfall this year was expected to be 25 percent higher than average, and highest of the last seven monsoons.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif immediately dashed to low lying areas and personally monitored the operation for pumping out water. He also issued directions to WASA and other agencies for taking prompt measures to provide relief to grief stricken people.

Wherever the CM visited, he found roads flooded, and he had no option but to blame WASA and Lahore Development Authority officials. “You have done nothing. I cannot tolerate the situation. Do your duty or leave the job,” an official accompanying the CM quoted him as saying. The CM, along with the district co-ordination officer and other officials, visited Davis Road, Moria Bridge, Aziz Road, Rahim Road, Misri Shah, Kachopura and Akbar Road.

Paralysed: The rain that started at around 6:45am came to a halt at 11:15am, turning the weather pleasant. It however took its toll on office-goers who had to stay home till it stopped. Some people tried to use different routes to reach their offices, shops and business places, but found no dry land. At many places, people were seen towing their motorcycles and cars out of the rainwater and looking for mechanics. “The government departments were aware of the rain, but they have not planned how to deal with the situation,” said Ather Hussain, a banker whose car broke down in rainwater.

Rana Abid Mehmood, a motorist, said that he had taken a number of roads to reach his office safely, but found every road submerged.

WASA Managing Director (MD) Javed Iqbal said that the authority was making efforts to handle the situation. “Though a number of places have been cleared, we are helpless in some localities where there is no sewerage system,” he said, adding that generators had been installed at all disposal stations, and the city would be cleared of water as soon as possible.

3 responses to “It took 270 minutes for Lahore to drown”

The water we see and experience isn’t because there aren’t any sewers. It’s because there isn’t any storm water drainage.
The low-lying areas of north Lahore were never set out according to plan. The few planned localities (chah miran, do moria area and Shadbagh) have sanitation. But the storm water of the area was meant to be absorbed. But if the natural vegetation of an area is given up to roads and other developments, then storm water has no place to go. Except stand there and make everyone look silly.

In the “posh” part of town, like Gulberg, there was water because the storm water drainage of the area (which was designed in the 1950s and 60s) has been gradually given way to street widening. There is no way to get the water that stands on Main Boulevard after a strong rain except to dig and built a storm water drain.

It’s remarkable that none of the locally elected officials of the area weren’t present. Mian Amer – who made a point of doing the knees-in-water routine – hasn’t been seen anywhere for quite a while.

I understand Shahbaz wants to get things done, but is it really the job of the CM to be fixing drains in North Lahore. What I mean to say is that the CM’s involvement is at the expense of the local administration. If they aren’t there, their capacity will never increase and we’ll never figure out a way to solve this problem.

Rafay
how well put…
I think I am posting your view here. You are absolutely right that the local administration and agencies have to show capacities to deal with these emergencies.
They just cannot abdicate and leave it to the dynamic Sharif to fix things for them…!

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